Jeff Bezos Stopped Mukesh Abmani's $3.4 Billion Deal To Protect His Dominance

The Supreme Court has halted regulatory approval for Future Group’s asset sale to Reliance Industries that’s worth $3.4 billion. This effectively stopped the deal, making a victory for Amazon, which aims at scuttling the transaction in its attempt to dominate the retail sector in India.

On Monday, the Supreme Court agreed with the e-commerce giant’s petition and overturned a lower court’s ruling, and stopped India’s company tribunal from approving of the transaction until further orders. Notices were issued to Future Retail Ltd that sought written statements on the petition. According to Justice Rohinton F. Nariman heading the two–judge panel, the court will hear the case after 5 weeks.

Representatives for Future Group, Amazon India, and Reliance Industries did not respond immediately to a comment request. Future Group can move the arbitration tribunal to have the interim stay lifted.

The arbitration proceedings between Kishore Biyani and Amazon began in Singapore. Amazon accused the Future Group of violating a partnership contract when the company agreed to sell assets to Mukesh Ambani in 2020. However, the new ruling will endanger Future Retail as it’s struggling to pay debt.

According to Future Retail, if the Reliance sale deal fails, it would collapse. The company is now trapped between two of the richest men in the world as they compete to gain dominance in the $1 trillion consumer retail market in India. The legal dispute over the deal has turned into a fierce legal fight across courtrooms in both countries. The US retail giant doesn’t want to give any of its competitive advantages to the Indian retail company after already losing to local rivals in China.

>>> Jeff Bezos To Step Down As Amazon CEO This Year, Replaced By Andy Jassy